Continued Eco-Lighthouse Certification – Continued Trust

The working group in Green NMH has been working towards re-certification, which provides a comprehensive status of the entire school's environmental efforts and potential for improvement.

In this effort, NMH has received praise for energy savings, but we still have room for improvement regarding waste and sorting. With new sorting stations and a joint effort among students and staff, we hope to get even better at sorting our waste, says Johan Jørgensen, head of Green NMH.

In 2024, NMH removed all small residual waste bins in offices, practice rooms, ensemble rooms, common areas, and teaching rooms and set up new waste stations with sorting. The canteen also has more apparent sorting of leftovers and waste.

Our new strategy highlights climate and sustainability and provides a solid framework for future work.

The strategy states: – Fundamentally, the intention is that we should have a culture and structure that is economically, humanly, and ecologically sound. The climate and nature crisis challenges us to reflect sustainability and environmental considerations in all decisions. In the future, we must have high awareness of resource use and meet global and local challenges with creativity, knowledge, and a willingness to change. Measures for the environment and climate, social conditions, governance, and leadership should ensure NMH is a responsible actor.

In the re-certification as an Eco-Lighthouse, all management documents in the environmental management system are reviewed, and routines and descriptions are updated. The climate and sustainability policy has also been revised. Economic uncertainty, global security challenges, and climate change are frameworks and backdrops for the work ahead.

Music and musical experiences are inherently sustainable and contribute to increased quality of life for individuals. NMH contributes to local concerts and a vibrant music scene throughout Norway, thereby increasing cultural diversity close to a broad audience.

We acknowledge that several aspects of core activities have a climate footprint, and through small and large initiatives, we aim to improve environmental performance. NMH is uniquely positioned to lead the way and show that ecological work must also occur in the cultural sector and music education. NMH educates future role models in various fields. Through a visible and targeted environmental and climate focus, we signal that the environmental aspect should follow students into the workforce, says Jørgensen.

Students are an essential internal driver and a premise provider for environmental work. Through students, NMH also has the opportunity to influence the cultural sector through conscious actors and musicians.

Several NMH students have participated in the Spillerom Conference, where they gain knowledge and can discuss, for example, how freelance life can be as sustainable as possible. In recent years, there has been regular contact between Green NMH and Spillerom regarding various collaborations.